Cat's Cradle (31 page)

“Carrie!” she called. “Get that piece of garden hose out of the pantry. The one your father was using to repair the line from the washing machine.”

“All right!” Mike said. “I’ll get some duct tape. I know where it is.”

They fitted one end of the hose over the faucet and taped it tight. Vonne turned on the water, Carl began spraying the room. The pain-filled yowling of the cats increased as the steam from the hot water rose in gray-white waves, the hot water scalding the cats. The enraged cats jammed up the window trying to escape. Mike cleared the hole by sticking the muzzle of a shotgun through the wire and blowing the window free of wet, squirming cats.

Vonne handed Carl a flashlight and he shone the beam all around the room. Linda was not in the room, alive or dead.

“We’ve got to contact Dad,” he said.

Then the lights went out.

9

The roaming hordes of cats, hundreds of them, stopped en masse as all the lights in town went out, plunging the area into darkness. The cats milled about, momentarily confused.

Then the lights popped back on.

“What happened?” Dan asked the crew chief.

“Relax, Sheriff. We just had to shut it down for a couple of minutes. The power that normally flows through these lines,” he said, waving his hand, “has been diverted until we get this bypass hooked up. It won’t take us long. Power is already restored in Valentine and the outlying areas. But let me tell you something: that bypass is not going to hold for very long. It’s gonna self-destruct, like that tape recorder in that old TV show. That’s the way I rigged it; that’s the way it’s gonna stay.”

“What happens when the bypass blows, or goes, or whatever?” Taylor asked.

“Well, Captain, y’all are gonna have some mighty furious power company executives.”

“Can’t you fix it afterwards?” Dan asked, thinking: If there is any afterwards for any of us to worry about, that is.

“We won’t have to. The current will automatically start flowing normally when the bypass burns out.”

“Well, then!” Taylor said. “What’s all the flap about?”

“Captain,” the crew chief replied wearily, “man, we’re regulated, overseen, controlled, inspected, monitored... you name it. Look, a lot of this juice,” he said, again waving his hand, “is being sold; Florida, North Carolina, up in Pennsylvania. Disrupting the normal flow is bad enough. Let me put it this way: you boys know what a power surge is?”

“We’re not idiots!” Dan snapped.

“That remains to be seen, don’t it?” the crew chief popped back. “And me along with you guys for doing this,” he added. “Well, just think what’s gonna happen to transformers and relay stations when this much power goes off, and then kicks back on with one big jolt. You see what I mean? Sure you don’t want to reconsider?”

“Get on with the bypass,” Dan said.

The crew chief walked off, muttering highly uncomplimentary things under his breath.

“Dan!” Chuck called. “Trouble at your house. Carl’s on the radio now. Cats got in the house. Carrie’s little friend, Linda, is gone. They don’t know where.”

“Take over, Captain. Father Denier, come with me, would you, please.”

Mille and Kenny watched Dan and the priest pull out. Mille said, “I can’t figure what he’s planning on doing here, can you?”

“He’s gonna give somebody one heck of a hot foot, it looks like.”

“But, he can’t kill a ... a
spirit
!”

“Sure looks like he’s gonna give it the old college try, though, don’t it?”

* * *

Denise walked through the woods and meadows and pastures, a pale once human form that glided more than walked. Her companion, the cat, walked with her. Once, they stopped beside a tree as the sounds of running feet came to them. They waited, watching unnoticed as Bowie ran pass them, snarling and growling as he ran.

They angled off, going in the direction Bowie had come. They soon found Linda, awake, scared, and struggling to be free of her bonds.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the naked, and dead, so she thought, Denise. She jerked in fear, then fainted at the sight of the girl.

Denise knelt beside the unconscious girl. She ran her hands over the girl’s smooth body; not scarred and marked as hers. Linda stirred. Her eyelids fluttered. She opened her eyes and stared at Denise. The cat watched.

Denise removed the leather belt, freeing Linda’s hands.

“You’re
dead
!” Linda hissed.

Denise smiled. “Only as you think you know death. Now we are sisters.”

“What! ...”

But Denise and the cat were gone, melting into the darkness.

Then all memory of Denise and the cat left her. She could remember the rape, but no more. She sat up, pulling on the tattered remains of panty and bra. She stood up, a bit shaky. She looked around and got her bearings, then started walking toward the Garrett house. It was not that far off.

It was odd, she thought. I feel so ... so lightheaded. Like there is something I am supposed to do, but can’t remember what it is.

It would come to her. In time.

* * *

“Not a cat to be seen anywhere,” Dan spoke to Vonne. They stood on the porch of their house. “And I don’t know what, or who might have carried off Linda.”

“I’m right here,” Linda called from the side of the house. “Please toss me a robe, Mrs. Garrett. I’m practically naked.”

Vonne got a robe from the house and led the girl inside. There, she told her story.

Dan glanced at Father Denier. The priest was looking at the girl, his eyes hooded, giving away nothing. “I’m going to get Doctor Ramsey,” Dan said. “If I can find him.”

“I’ll stay here,” Denier said.

The phone rang, its shrillness startling them all. “I thought the phones were out?” Dan asked.

“They were,” Vonne said, rising to still the ringing. She listened for a moment. Her face drained of blood, becoming chalk white. She held the phone out to Denier. Her hands were shaking so badly she almost dropped the phone. “It’s for you, Father.”

“What’s wrong, Vonne?” Dan asked. “Who is that on the phone?”

“He . . . he . . .” She stuttered. “. . . Said it . . . he much prefers the personal touch.”

“Who, mother?” Carl asked.

“Satan,” she said.

Then fainted.

Father Denier had not spoken a word since he took the receiver from Vonne’s pale, cold hand, listened for a moment, and then hung up. He sat in a chair, unmoving. Dan broke all speed records getting to the Ramsey’s house and piling Alice and Quinn, Emily and Bill into his car, roaring back to his house. It was only then he noticed the flames leaping into the sky from several locations around town. He tried to use his radio to contact the fire chief. It was dead. He clicked on the AM/FM car radio. Nothing. Cold. Not even static. He searched the bands. Nothing.

And he did not see a single cat.

Quinn checked Vonne. He shook his head. “Her pulse is normal. Her color has returned. Her blood pressure is normal. I ... can’t explain her unconsciousness. I know she’s as healthy as anyone in the county. I gave her a physical a few weeks ago. She’s just ... out. And I can’t explain it.”

“I can,” Denier finally broke his silence. “No mortal can look upon the face of Satan and live. I suppose listening to the Dark One would have somewhat lesser effects. She will awaken and be perfectly all right once her mind is ready to accept what she heard.”

“But listening to ... the devil didn’t knock you out,” Doctor Harrison said.

“I have spoken with ... him before,” the priest said. “While doing God’s work in upstate New York not too long ago. I know Satan well. He hates me and I despise him.”

Those words spoken, the heat intensified. Denier looked up, anger on his face. He waved his hand. “Oh,
get away
!” he shouted. “We know you’re here. Stop your bragging, you bastard!”

The head abated slightly.

Denier stood up. “I must go,” he said abruptly. “I’ll get my bag out of your car, Sheriff.”

* * *

“But . . .” Dan said.

Denier waved him silent. “This is something I must do alone. You would only be in my way. The cats won’t bother me.” His eyes touched Vonne, on the couch. “She will be all right. She is a fine, Christian woman. Goodbye.” He turned and walked out the front door.

“I wonder what ... Satan,” she stumbled over the word, “said to him.”

“I’m not sure I want to know,” Dan replied.

Linda’s eyes held a strange glow.

“Where is Father Denier going, Daddy,” Carrie asked.

“To fight Satan.”

Hate glowed fiercely from Linda’s eyes.

Dan looked at Linda. He saw the strange glow, mistook it for fever.

Leaving the doctors and their wives at his house, Dan drove back to the terminal. The power crew was gone.

Captain Taylor said. “They pulled out. About five minutes ago. Said they wouldn’t take any further part in this insanity. But they hooked everything up when I shoved a shotgun in the crew chief’s face.”

“Get them back here!” Dan said. “I want them to see this.”

Taylor yelled the orders and several of his men took off after the crew.

“They show you how to operate the ... whatever?” Dan asked.

“Yeah. Several of us. Simple. Come on, I’ll show you the bypass. Or rather, the switch that will cut in the bypass.”

The first hues of silver were streaking the eastern sky. Dan explained what had happened at his house. He finished with Father Denier leaving.

“And you let him go?”

“How could I stop him?”

“Good point.”

The power company crew had run a line as far as they could from the metal grid that covered hundreds of feet inside the terminal complex. What looked like a huge breaker box was mounted on a pole.

“That’s it?” Dan asked.

“That’s it. Just pull that handle and, to quote the crew chief, ’Get ready for the ground to tingle.’ ”

“Get everybody clear of the grid.” Dan looked at his watch. Looked toward the east. “Full light soon. Let’s get a sandwich and get ready to move out.”

“I’m not hungry,” Taylor said.

Dan smiled. “I’m not either. But I know when you’re taking speed you’d better eat something. I’ve taken it before.”

Taylor looked at him. “Dope. When?”

Dan laughed. “Working stakeouts with the Bureau.”

10

“What’d you do with June?” Gordon asked the pale-eyed young man with the silenced automatic in his right hand.

“I didn’t do anything with her. She popped a capsule before I could. Dead in thirty seconds.”

“You look familiar to me,” Gordon said, straining his eyes to peer through the silver-streaked gloom. “Naw! He’s dead.”

The young man said nothing.

“I got a right to know who’s gonna burn me!” Gordon said.

“You have no rights. You sold out your country. You’re a traitor. And you endangered a lot of innocent lives in this county.”

“Oh, goody! I get a sermon early in the morning.”

“No. Just a bullet.”

The young man smiled and pulled the trigger, twice. The .22 caliber slugs hit Gordon in the face, one entered his eye, the other making a tiny hole right between his eyes.

He picked up his brass and walked away.

He would be eating dinner in the mess hall at Fort Lewis that evening.

11

“It’s a little girl,” the woman said. “She’s walking among the cats. Petting and talking to them. Where did she come from?”

“And who or what the hell is she?” the husband asked.

They watched as Anya looked toward the house and laughed. She pointed at the house. The cats came, leaping and snarling and hurling their bodies against the door and the windows. The windows shattered but the barricades held firm. The man picked up the double-barrel coach gun, thumbed the hammers back, and stuck the twin muzzle out through a crack in the barricade. He pulled both barrels at once, the recoil of the sawed-off knocked him backward. That window was cleared of cats. Several dozen mangled furry bodies lay in bits and pieces around the side of the house.

Anya was down in the yard, screaming in pain and fury.

“You hit the little girl,” the woman said.

“I think she’s part of this . . . nightmare,” the husband replied.

“The shotgun worked,” she said.

“Will wonders never cease.” He reloaded and looked out through the crack.

The cats were leaving, hundreds of them following the girl, who was running down the road, apparently unhurt.

“I saw the girl knocked down,” she said. “I saw the shot hit her. But she’s running like she is not hurt at all.”

The woman turned on the outside floodlights, the yard exploding in harsh light. The little girl turned and screamed obscenities at the house.

There was not a mark on the girl.

“That’s impossible!” the man said. “The shot knocked her down. It hit her. But ... what’s going on here?”

Anya was shrieking at the cats. They turned, spitting and snarling at the house. The woman picked up the other shotgun.

“You can’t shoot that,” her husband said.

“You watch me. Here they come!”

The cats came, urged on by the screaming Anya. They jumped at the windows and were blown apart by shotgun blasts. The cats behaved as insane troops in a suicide charge. Again and again they leaped into the shotgun blasts, only to be blown to bloody furry chunks.

The girl, standing close to the house, was screaming in fury, shouting at the house.

“What language is that?” the woman asked.

“Sounds like Arabic,” he said. “But my hearing is shot after all this shooting.”

“Look!” She pointed.

The woods around the property were emptying of men, all carrying automatic weapons. They had formed a crude half circle, as if driving the girl and the cats.

The cats left their insane charging of the house and raced toward the men. The men, obviously well-trained, dropped to one knee and opened fire, raking the charging cats with automatic weapons fire. A few cats made it through the deadly hail of lead. They were either shot down or stomped to death.

The half circle moved closer to the girl. The man and woman in the house watched, with a mixture of fascination and horror.

The young girl pointed her finger at the moving line. One man burst into flames, his body exploding as if hit with a howitzer round.

Anya pointed her finger at another man. He slowly vaporized, his boots all that remained.

Lou lifted his M-16 and sighted the girl in.

“Why are you trying to harm me?” she called.

Lou lowered his rifle.

“Why did you point that gun at me?” Anya called.

“Because you’re . . . evil!” Lou said.

“I am what I was born to be,” Anya said, her young voice carrying clearly through the heat of night.

“I didn’t know you spoke Arabic, Lou,” the man to his right said.

“I don’t.”

“Well, you damn sure were!”

Lou shook his head. The guy was nuts. He looked at the young kid. “Move!” he ordered.

She laughed at him.

“Goddamn you! I said
move
!”

She turned and walked slowly down the long driveway. “Am I moving correctly?” she called over her shoulder.

“Just keep moving.”

“To the lights I see in the distance?” She pointed.

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“Come on, Lou!” one of his people said. “Speak English!”

“I am speaking English!” Lou said.

Lou’s gone nuts! the OSS agent thought. He and that weird kid have been gibber-jabbering in Arabic.

Those cats that were left after the bloody carnage followed Anya and Pet, the agents following the cats.

In the house, the man and woman looked at each other, neither of them having the vageuest idea what was going on, or what had gone on.

“It’s over for us,” the woman said. “We can relax.”

“How do you know that?”

“I just do.”

“Honey, sometimes you’re as weird as your brother.”

* * *

“I don’t like me and my men being treated like criminals, sheriff,” the crew chief said.

“Forgive me for bruising your tender feelings,” Dan said. “I want you all to see this. Now go over there and stand by those preachers. You and Louis Foster can call me names from over there. He didn’t like being hauled out here either.”

Crew chief and men walked away, all of them cussing under their breath.

Dan turned to Captain Taylor. “When I yell, Tay, you pull that handle, okay?”

“Where are you going to be, Dan?”

“Right out there,” he replied, pointing to the wire grid.

“Are you out of your mind, man! I won’t do it. No.”

“You have to do it, Tay. They . .” He waved his hand at the silver darkness, “... whatever you want to call those unknowns we’ve been fighting, won’t be satisfied with anyone else but me. I’ve been the fly in the ointment from the beginning. You know the very first person to ever lay claim to this piece of property?”

“What? No. Who cares?”

“My great great great—I don’t know how many greats—grandfather. It all came to me about a half hour ago. The story that no one in my family would ever talk about. But I heard it in bits and pieces as a boy. By eavesdropping on the adults. That ancestor of mine fought the devil, right here. Right on this land. Fought him for years-all his life, I suppose. No, Tay. It’s me they want. Tell Vonne I had to do it. Tell her why. Okay?”

“All right, Dan. Dan?” Captain Taylor held out his hand.

Dan smiled and shook it. “Listen up, now.”

“See you, boy.”

Standing some yards behind the two cops, Mille turned to Kenny and said, “Looks like I’m going to write a favorable story about cops after all.”

“I guess it’s time we both grew up,” Kenny said.

Father Denier was slowly stalking the largest of the Old Ones, pushing it, driving the creature slowly toward the terminal compound.

“I should kill you now,” the Old One said.

“You can’t,” the priest spoke low. “And you know it. Not by yourself.” He held up the large cross and the Old One averted its gruesome head and rained curses down on the priest.

The sun broke through the dawn mist, the temperature soaring.

“Move, you ugly piece of filth,” Denier said.

“Move, you wretched demon!” Lou shouted.

“Are you that anxious to die?” Anya called.

“We all have to see the elephant, you witch! One time is as good as the next.”

“Witch? I’m a witch, Pet. The fool called me a witch. Shall we play tricks, Pet?”

The cat jumped and yowled, leaping about in glee.

Anya turned around and glared at Lou. Lou’s face began melting, the flesh cooking on the bone, bubbling and popping like pork. He dropped his M-16 and screamed once, before his tongue was melted. His eyes turned to liquid and ran down his cheek bones. Lou’s clothing burst into flames as the man collapsed to the ground.

“Come!” Anya called to the stalled line of agents. “Follow us. I invite you to witness the rebirthing of the Master’s disciples. Come! ” She turned and began walking faster.

“What in blazes,” one of the OSS agents muttered. “If we cut and run, the Feds will pick us up and poke us in the slam. If we follow her, we might make it.” He looked down at what remained of Lou. “You do too know Arabic, you liar.”

Vonne walked out of the house to stand alone on the front porch, her eyes looking in the direction of the old truck terminal. She felt a sense of dread in her heart. She turned as Carl and Mike joined her.

“What’s wrong, Mother?”

“Your father is about to do something terribly brave.” She wiped her misty eyes. “But he would not want tears. He would want us to feel proud and to be strong. So that’s what we shall be.”

“Mother, what are you talking about?”

“Father Denier talked to me about an hour ago,” she said.

“Mother, Father Denier has been gone from here for
hours!”

“He spoke to me. He told me the story about that piece of land where your father is meeting the devil.”

“What about it, Mother?”

“I’ll tell you. In a little while.”

“Why not now?”

“Keep your father’s image in your mind, Carl. Remember him as he is. Strong, brave, decent, and honorable.”

“Mother . . .
you sound like Dad is ...
dead!”

“He is about to be, son.”